Joey Pizzolato

Block has combined buy now/pay later with peer-to-peer payments, part of a big bet that younger consumers want an alternative to credit cards.

The company's cards will combine with the Alipay digital wallet, enabling foreign travelers to use local currency while reducing fees and processing steps. That and more in the American Banker global payments roundup.

Earned wage access is shaping up to be the most divisive financial product in decades as industry trade groups and consumer advocates spar over whether EWA should be classified as credit in order to protect consumers. Is there a middle ground?

The state legislature has passed a bill that would remove exceptions to a 12% interest rate cap that would make many alternative forms of lending infeasible. It sits on the governor's desk, awaiting signature.

The payments company, which is unifying parts of its operation to deepen its reach with consumers and businesses, saw its stock fall more than 10% after reporting mixed earnings, though analysts are more bullish on the company's future.

Regulators are investigating the technology giants over concerns their financial apps are violating competition rules. That and expanding tech in emerging markets highlight this week's American Banker global payments roundup.

The amended language in the bank's terms and conditions will halt payments to social media sellers. It comes as banks on the P2P app face increased political pressure to step in and stop payments to scammers on the platform. 

The rollout of new technologies in point-of-sale retail payments in the U.S. has historically been slow, and consumer adoption of those new payment flows can be even slower. Can consumers' propensity for self checkout help push adoption?

The money-transfer company's move came after the U.S. State Department last week renewed sanctions against the island nation. That, plus Klarna and Standard Chartered get bullish on crypto; Trump's not the first politician to rail at pennies; and other international payments and fintech news.

FIS' debit-processing bank clients will soon be able to integrate Affirm's pay-over-time products into existing digital banking infrastructure. For Affirm, it means even more potential BNPL transactions.